Posts Tagged Jamaica Observer
Plane crash at airport
Posted by ShopinJA in Breaking News on December 23rd, 2009
40 passengers injured in American Airlines accident at NMIA
BY ROLAND HENRY Lifestyle Co-ordinator henryr@jamaicaobserver.com
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Go-Jamaica - Flash representation of the final moments of flight AA 331 - News
Forty passengers were reported injured when an American Airlines plane crashed and broke in two after landing at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston shortly after 10:00 last night.
“The injured passengers have been taken to the Kingston Public Hospital,” Information Minister Daryl Vaz told the Observer. “There are no reports of fatalities.”
Vaz, Transport and Works Minister Mike Henry and National Security Minister Dwight Nelson were quick on the scene and engaged in a head count from the passenger manifest to determine if anyone was missing.
An injured American Airlines flight 331 passenger is being pushed in a wheelchair by a member of the flight crewl at the Norman Manley International Airport last night. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)
Flight AA331, a Boeing 737-800, had just arrived from Miami in pouring rain with 148 passengers and a crew of six when the accident occurred.
“The plane crashed and broke almost in front of me,” said a shaken Naomi Palmer who was in seat number D8.
Palmer said she was feeling some pain and was being supported by a friend on the outside of the arrival area when she spoke with the Observer.
The plane overran the runway, smashed through the perimeter fence, crossed the Port Royal road and ended up on the beach.
Buju arrested on cocaine charge in Florida
Posted by ShopinJA in Breaking News on December 13th, 2009
BY VERNON DAVIDSON Executive editor - Publications davidsonv@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, December 13, 2009
THE United States Drug Enforcement Administration (USDEA) yesterday confirmed that reggae artiste Buju Banton is now in a Florida lock-up after being charged with intent to distribute cocaine.
Banton, whose real name is Mark Myrie, was held on Thursday, Florida DEA information spokesman David Melenkevitz told the Sunday Observer.
“Mr Myrie was arrested on a case based in Tampa. He is charged with intent to distribute cocaine, five kilos or more,” Melenkevitz said. “Right now he’s in custody in South Florida and he’ll be transferred to Tampa.”
BANTON... has been in the United States since September promoting his new album Rasta Got Soul
Asked when the transfer would take place, Melenkevitz said he couldn’t give a date, only that it would be “in the near future”.
Melenkevitz also said he did not know the circumstances that led to the deejay’s arrest. However, he confirmed that the arrest was not made at an airport.
Banton has been in the United States since September promoting his new album Rasta Got Soul.
His arrest comes almost two months after he rejected demands from gay activists in California that he promote respect for homosexuals via his music and at a town hall meeting.
Wray & Nephew warehouses go up in smoke
Posted by ShopinJA in Breaking News on December 2nd, 2009
At about 6:00pm Last night (Dec, 01 2009) A Raging fire broke out at the Wray & Nephew warehouse located on Spanish Town Road (Kingston Jamaica). The Amateur video below will show just how big of a Blaze the fire was.
Jamaica Observer Article
Wray & Nephew warehouses go up in smoke
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
FIRE fanned by a brisk evening breeze yesterday destroyed warehouses owned by the country’s main rum distillers — Wray and Nephew — on Spanish Town Road in Kingston.
The fire sent jitters throughout the trade ahead of the Christmas season when demand for the company’s popular liquor products hits peak. But no one was injured in the blaze, although employees who watched helplessly from outside the premises estimated that millions of dollars worth of goods went in the flames.
Neither the cause of the fire nor the extent of the damage were ascertained up to late last night.
LIME hits Digicel with $100-m lawsuit
Posted by ShopinJA in Breaking News on October 28th, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
LIME filed a $100-million lawsuit against Digicel on Monday, claiming that the Irish-owned telecom unfairly priced its landline-to-mobile rates by as much as $2.48 per minute below the rate it charges LIME to terminate its landline calls.
But the amount now being sought by the British-owned telecom is dwarfed by the $3.9-billion lawsuit it brought against Digicel earlier this year - a case which is scheduled to be heard on Friday - only days after the current action was filed.
LIME Jamaica's country manager, Geoff Houston makes a point at a press conference held yesterday at his company's head office. Listening in is Camille Facey, regional vice-president, legal regulatory and corporate affairs.
In that suit, LIME is claiming for the difference between payments per minute versus per second in respect of Fixed-to-Mobile (FTM) Interconnect Traffic. By LIME’s account, Digicel unilaterally changed the payment regime in 2003 in breach of the interconnection agreement.
Up to yesterday, the Business Observer was unable to get more details of the case to be heard on Friday, except that in the case, which will be heard in court chambers by Justice M McDonald-Bishop and clerk S Rainford, one party will argue for a stay of proceedings.
More Jamaicans said fleeing America
Posted by ShopinJA in Breaking News on October 20th, 2009
Tough economy, stricter enforcement of immigration policies trigger return home
BY INGRID BROWN Observer senior reporter browni@jamaicaobserver.com
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
BECKFORD... If the crime rate was 50 per cent lower a lot of people would return home.
Scores of Jamaicans are believed to be among the 1.7 million illegal immigrants in the United States who have opted to return home in the last two years, rather than endure the harsh realities of a tough American economy and stricter enforcement of immigration policies.
According to the US Centre for Immigration Studies (CIS), the population of undocumented persons in the United States declined by some 14 per cent or 1.7 million people between the summer of 2007 and spring of 2009.
Analyzing Census Bureau data, researchers Steven Camarota and Karen Jensenius calculate that the number of immigrants entering the USA illegally has fallen by one-third, while the number returning home has more than doubled.
“Both increased immigration enforcement and the recession seem to explain this decline,” they report.
But so far there are no clear cut figures as to how many Jamaicans are choosing this route, since persons turning up at the two international airports on the island are not required to declare what their status was in the country from which they are arriving.
However, those closely connected to the migrant communities in New York, one of the largest settlements of Jamaicans in the US, say there is an ever increasing number of our citizens who are falling into this category.
Dr Basil Wilson, dean of criminal justice at Monroe College and former provost and senior vice-president of academic affairs at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York, said navigating the US system as an illegal immigrant has become much harder, forcing many to give up their American dream.
File photo of Brooklyn, New York where Jamaicans are said to be homeless and living in shelters, especially those who are illegal and cannot benefit from state support.
Although certain sectors, such as restaurants and hotels, depend largely on immigrant labour, stringent measures imposed by the federal government have made it much more difficult for illegal immigrants to find employment.
MoBay mayor puts Digicel on hold
Posted by ShopinJA in Mobile Tech on October 12th, 2009
St. James PC defers telecommunication giant’s application to build cell tower in West Green
BY MARK CUMMINGS Observer West senior reporter cummingsm@jamaicaobserver.com
MONTEGO BAY, St James - The St James Parish Council’s Physical Planning Committee has deferred Digicel’s application for permission to erect a 45-metre cellular tower in the middle-class community of West Green.
“The application went to the meeting (physical planning) last week and it was deferred to next month’s meeting because of some outstanding matters,” Charles Sinclair, the council’s chairman told the Observer West on Tuesday.
“… as such no approval has been given for Digicel’s application,” added Sinclair, who is also mayor of Montego Bay.
The telecommunications company hopes to construct the tower later this year, but it needs the approval of several state entities including the St James Parish Council and the National Environmental Planning Agency (NEPA) as a pre-requsite.
Last month Digicel, which had already received the nod of approval for the construction of the site from NEPA, called a meeting - in keeping with the parish council’s approval process-with members of the West Green Citizens Association to outline its plans.
However at that stormy meeting, which took place on September 6 at the Cannon Muffler Centre in the community, some 100 residents made it clear that they did not want the tower in their community for health reasons.
Subsequently, two weeks ago the association, through its president, Vilma Clarke, delivered a petition signed by some 270 community members to the Parish Council’s Secretary Manager, Winston Palmer as well as NEPA.
The petition, which was accompanied by a cover letter as well as a list of the first 76 residents who attended the September 6, meeting, urged the local authority not to approve Digicel’s application.
“We did not get to collect the signatures of everyone who came to the meeting because some came in late and the focus had changed.. there were no microphones, and people were complaining at times that they could not hear what the people from Digicel were saying,” Clarke told the Observer West.
On Tuesday, Sinclair told the Observer West that the physical planning committee has since written to NEPA advising the agency of the community’s stance against the construction of the tower.
Sinclair added that the committee is also awaiting the minutes of last month’s meeting between Digicel and the West Green Citizens Association.
But Clarke told the Observer West that her association was not able to take minutes at the meeting as it was plagued by audio problems.
“We couldn’t hear what was being said and there wasn’t much to record given the shouting. In any case nobody has asked me for any minutes and it wasn’t our meeting, we were called by Digicel so we did not come with equipment to take that sort of record,” she said.
In the meantime the communication process seems to have gone awry as Clarke has received a letter from Digicel referring to the community’s desire to have sidewalks repaired as part of the condition for allowing the tower in.
PM signals Gov’t cuts
Posted by ShopinJA in Featured Post on September 30th, 2009
Jobs to go, agencies will be eliminated, others merged
Prime Minister Bruce Golding arrives at Gordon House last night for the Standing Finance Committee meeting. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)
Declaring that it is time for Jamaica to make a paradigm shift, Prime Minister Bruce Golding early this morning outlined his administration’s plan for changes in the size and function of government that, he said, will lead to greater efficiency and reduced costs.
The plan, Golding told a marathon sitting of the Standing Finance Committee of Parliament, will involve job cuts, including positions in the Cabinet. However, he did not say how many of the public sector’s 117,000 positions would be affected.
He pointed out that the total cost of the government establishment is $157 billion, but said that that doesn’t include the cost of providing services.
Golding, though, was clear that the public sector “wage bill burden cannot be sustained” and as such the administration had no choice but to trim the size of Government.
“Some departments and agencies will have to be eliminated,” said the prime minister. “Some will have to be merged.”
He gave as justification for this proposal the fact that functions are duplicated in some government departments and added that many of the forms that are now required to do business with the Government will be consolidated.
Golding also said that agencies, such as the Registrar General’s Department and the Firearm Licensing Authority that charge fees will be required to fund their own operations.
The prime minister also said that a full programme of tax reforms will be rolled out in the next financial year and reiterated his administration’s commitment to the establishment of a central treasury management body.
Hike in departure, phone taxes
Posted by ShopinJA in Business News on September 30th, 2009
F
inance Minister Audley Shaw last night announced an increase in the departure tax and a further hike in GCT on phone calls and instruments near the end of a marathon sitting of Parliament’s Standing Finance Committee at Gordon House.
Shaw said that the airport departure tax will move from $1,000 to $1,800, while the tax on phone calls and instruments - which was increased from 16.5 per cent to 20 per cent in April this year - will now move to 25 per cent.
The increases become effective tomorrow and will yield $1.7 billion that Shaw said will close the budget deficit.
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